The startup's easy-to-navigate website lets anyone with specialized skills to teach a class and anyone to attend a class at very little cost — on average between $20 and $25. Some skills require multiple classes, which will cost from $50 to hundreds of dollars.

Skillshare Community Manager Danya Cheskis-Gold says she and colleagues get a kick out of "seeing students getting new jobs and teachers making enough money to quit their current ones."

The classes taught through Skillshare fall within five categories: creative arts, culinary arts, entrepreneurship, lifestyle and technology. Within those categories, students can choose specific topics such as programming, business development, cocktail making, branding and personal finance, among a slew of other skills.

Skillshare's most active communities are in NYC, San Francisco, Boston and Los Angeles, but the service is open for people to use across the U.S.

Teachers' profile pages also show how many hours they have taught and spent learning.

"The best learning experiences are meaningful and collaborative, and that happens when people learn together with others who share their passions and when teachers constantly improve."

"Skillshare is nothing without its community, which is why social aspects like endorsements and student-led study groups are so crucial," Cheskis-Gold says. "The best learning experiences are meaningful and collaborative, and that happens when people learn together with others who share their passions and when teachers constantly improve."

Teachers take home 85% of what students pay to absorb new skills, while Skillshare nets 15% of the class fees. That money, along with the $3.1 million funding infusion from August, helps Skillshare scale its business, community and staff.

This April, Skillshare held the Penny Conference — a one-day discussion on ways to re-invent the education system. Skillshare CEO Michael Karnjanaprakorn, Codecademy co-founder Zach Sims and Pencils of Promise founder Adam Braun were among the speakers.

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